


Your Leash

by AvaJune



Category: Cinderella Phenomenon (Visual Novel)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Biting, Consensual Kink, Cussing, Eventual Smut, F/M, First Time, Lil blood thing cause he's a wolf, Masochism, Overstimulation, Possessive Behavior, Primal Stuff, Romance, Rough Body Play, but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-10
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2018-11-12 08:13:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 22,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11157831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvaJune/pseuds/AvaJune
Summary: “The wolf is carnivore incarnate and he's as cunning as he is ferocious; once he's had a taste of flesh then nothing else will do.”― Angela CarterI hope Fritz enjoyed his happily ever after. Now, it's Varg's turn.I have little story details, but this is primarily about building the relationship and smut. It also doesn't pick up the story until after the princess awakes from her coma. The first few chapters will cover material from the story, but in a slightly different light and with some canon divergence. It assumes you have already finished Fritz's route. There will be spoilers. Also, PG-13 does not suit Varg, as far as I am concerned, so expect this to be significantly more explicit than anything in the original once we get into the story a bit. So, you've been warned. ;)





	1. Shadows of the Forest

_Lucette_

I awoke to familiar sheets but with an uncomfortable feeling weighing in my gut. Feeling weak and disoriented, I shook my head to clear my mind, intensifying the throbbing that is already there. My brain felt as if it was filled with cotton and I found myself unsure of what, exactly, had happened to me before I found myself in bed.

"She lives."

I startled at the sudden sound of a male voice and looked over to see Varg's eyes flash at me, icy and sharp.

My voice came out a little choked as I glared at him. "Why are you here?"

Varg shrugged. "It was my job to stay here and watch over you."

He sighed loudly, cracking his neck. "So boring, Sleeping Beauty," he complained. "Your book collection is abysmal."

I pointedly ignored his baiting in favor of getting more information. "How long have I been out?" I asked.

Varg rose and took a few steps towards the bed. "About a week," he answered nonchalantly.

"What?!?!" I exclaimed. A whole week! My brain tried to piece together the last time I remembered doing anything. The secret tunnels and Mythros, the- MOTHER!

I jolted up quickly and was rewarded with a wave of nausea before Varg was reaching out to steady me. He gently coaxed me to relax back and be still.

"Slow down Princess, you aren't ready to fight me yet," he murmured.

My eyes met his and they were so genuine and open that I found myself unsure how to process his expression. Then it occurred to me-

"Wait, the sun is up. Is Fritz still not coming out during the day?" I demanded.

Varg stepped back and gazed at me, looking disinterested, but said nothing.

"Is he still in there?" I asked with growing irritation.

Varg sighed. "Would you believe me if I told you Fritz doesn't want to see you?"

Before I could temper my response, I reared back as if his words had physically slapped me.

"But I didn't do anything wrong..." I murmured plaintively.

He frowned at me, almost looking sympathetic before fire sharpened his gaze. "He was too ashamed to see you. I had no idea Fritz would respond to your words like he did. I have most of his memories, at least the strong ones. He doesn't have mine though."

"Oh..."

I looked at Varg before continuing curiously. "What kind of memories?"

A smirk crossed his face, his teeth flashing only for a moment. "In the beginning? Mostly you."

Wow. That was... unexpected.

"Fritz cares for you, Princess," Varg told me it with annoyance, biting the words as they left his mouth. "Take my word for it, if no one else's." 

"Will I ever see him again? Or has he lost to you?" I asked, undeterred by his obvious irritation.

"... I can't say."

Varg's face was open but a moment in apparent sympathy before he turned away.

"Can't say or won't say?"

He looked at me with such tenderness I felt my tongue still.

"Princess..." he murmured quietly, almost to himself.

Then it was gone all at once, the tenderness giving way to stone, and his teasing smirk returned.

"Seems you're stuck with me for the time being, Princess."

'Fine,' I thought with aggravation, 'two could play that game.' As Varg pulled on his mask of arrogance and superiority, I also pulled on mine. It was the Ice Princess of many months ago, not my current self, who sneered back.

"You know what, Varg?" I taunted. "You are more like him than you know. He would NEVER harm me."

I looked in his eyes pointedly as I continued. "And neither would you."

Varg's eyes showed a momentary waver, but it was gone so quickly I may have imagined it. His face grimaced with impatience and he snarled. Sadly for him, I am not afraid of him anymore.

"It's always Fritz with you, but I'm the one who has been by your side this whole time!"

He was obviously getting angry, that stone face contorting to something more primal, but so was I. His eyes locked with mine, trying to trap me in the stare of a predator, trying to make me sweat and shake.

"I am a much better man than him," he snarled. "And we both know that I am by far the better protector."

His face had steadily gotten closer to mine and he had me trapped against the wall to the left of my bed. He looked like he would like nothing better than to rip me apart piece by piece, hurt me deeply in places that would not heal, but I was far too enraged to care. I would not give an inch.

"Oh?" I grinned, forcing myself to lean in so my breath tickled his ear. "Then why are you so threatened by him?"

Varg let loose a growl of frustration and wrapped his hand around my throat, pinning me to the wall. His hand was firm and unyielding, not impeding my breathing, but not allowing me any movement to wriggle or try to escape. His face was but a few inches from mine, and we met each other's eyes, both seething with fury, both growling in our chests. Within a moment, Varg closed the space between us and slammed his lips against mine. I have heard first kisses are supposed to be magical, but based on the few fairy tales I have read since becoming cursed, this was far different. First kisses are described as gentle and chaste, butterfly wings fluttering across maiden lips. But this was no gentle kiss and I suppose that was fitting, as I was no helpless sweet maiden. I hadn't an ounce of gentleness within me and that was just fine because the Ice Princess and the Wolf both had little use for gentleness. Instead, Varg's kiss was hot and hungry. He was unyielding and immovable, a force of nature as his teeth bit my lips and his tongue forced its way into my mouth. As I brought my arms up to slam on his chest, I believed that I would push him off of me and demand that he answer for this; find a way to press him under my heel and force him to admit defeat. But when my hands settled on his chest, they curled into his shirt instead, almost ripping the fabric beneath my fingers as they clenched into fists.

That was surprising and disturbing and Varg seemed just as shocked as I was. He broke the kiss with his gasp of surprise and, momentarily coming to my senses, I flung him from me with as much force as I could muster. His body flew back and his eyes opened wide in shock. We panted at one another, neither able to pinpoint the look in the other's eye. I could see the moment that he processed what he had done and he began to look overwhelmingly guilty, a feeling I would have thought quite out of his reach. He reached out a hand to caress my cheek, but I smacked it away, extending my arm towards the door.

"Get. Out." I whispered through clenched teeth. His eyes closed off without warning and he bowed at the waist, sweeping his cane out beside him.

"Then won't you please excuse me, Princess. I have things to do today," he said. And without so much as a glance backward, he strode out of my room.


	2. Grandmother's House

_Varg_  

The princess has been in the castle a few weeks now, though she was asleep for the first one. It's funny how sometimes the most unexpected of things give a ragged wolf an unexpected and undeserved blessing. When that -thing- drained all of her own daughter's energy and magic so she could come back and do whatever the hell it is she's doing, I felt my teeth ache and crave flesh. I fantasized about ripping her throat out. But I denied myself, albeit barely, because if I tried and failed, she would have ripped MY throat out and then Lucy would be alone with the Creature and Mythros and that was NEVER going to come to pass. So I bit my tongue till it bled and I took on the task of watching her sleep. 

She'd probably strike me if she heard me call her Lucy, but I did call her that when she was lost in unconsciousness and my words would not reach her. I was so furious about what put her there in that bed but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't nice to just watch her, vulnerable and innocent in a way she NEVER was in the waking world. Although, that was probably for the best. She was surrounded by people who were either too cruel to not use it against her or too weak to protect her from the former. The princess' world was only nightmares, never blissful sleep. We were the same, that way. 

I laughed mirthlessly to myself to think of the day she woke. She had not been conscious 10 minutes before she became perfectly infuriating. That girl was always able to get under my skin like razor blades, ready to slice for hours on end. But I guess that's why I am who I am. Mythros, the snake, made me so I would be unbearably needy for her and compelled to throttle her at the same time. It was a delicious agony, the nuances of such a thing wasted on an animal like me. Fritz's desperate love sickness certainly did not lend the situation any clarity or relief. That little boy had for so long been helplessly enthralled with her, and by association, so was I. If I didn't despise him so much, I'd pity him. Because for all he brings the world in sweetness and misplaced, fumbling kindness, there is no way in hell he could ever match the pace of my Lucy. None at all. 

It was far too soon after she woke that I heard Lucy and the snake in the throne room. His voice, always unbearably grating, was even more so when he coated it in velvet and spoke to her as if she was too simple to understand. But she gave him nary a flinch, never one to give an inch. 'Cold as ice,' the people have always said but how wrong they were. Lucy was fire and she would burn the whole world with her if she needed to. She demanded to know how to break Fritz's curse.

Naturally. I forget sometimes that I am just the small wicked seed in his head, but she never seems to. The snake was more than happy to disappoint her by explaining the futility of trying. 

"Why?" She demanded to know; why had the snake created the Wolf. The delight on his face while explaining the rawest of truths to her was stomach turning. 

"Fritz refused to aide his father in the less savory deeds he required. So we decided to get another, one as talented as Fritz, but without the same... defiant spirit. There is, after all, no better servant than the Big Bad Wolf. He has all the power and drive of a predator but is still so obedient. Wolves are closely related to dogs, after all. And better yet, the Big Bad Wolf will always stay close to the lady he desires to devour." 

Lucy should have been frightened then. The snake just told her that the man tasked with her protection was hell bent on eating her all up. But she didn't flinch, and I wondered why that didn't surprise me at all. 

Time went on in the palace, and I did as I was supposed to do. I watched her. And as I watched her, I learned even more about her. I saw her time spent with the king, eyes full of sorrow for the man who had scorned her and left her all alone. I wouldn't have bothered with him frankly, but after all of that, after abandoning her to her mother's whims, she still pitied him; tried to protect him. I found that confusing, but then again, most everything about her was.

I saw her go to the town while balking at the insinuation that she was somehow not allowed, headstrong as always. I watched her stand frozen against the state of the town under her mother's thumb, flinching from the absolute terror people looked at her with. I felt a clawing against my heart at that; she didn't deserve their derision. I wanted to wrap her up in my arms and disappear from here; take her somewhere no one could hurt her anymore and be the kind of man to her that ensured no one would dare try. But instead, I wrapped her in my cloak to hide her before returning her to the castle, like the coward we both knew I was. 

It wasn't long before her magic training lessons began. 

 

 _Lucette_  

"I can't Mother." 

I watched the small white bird struggle against the dome that encased it. It had done nothing to deserve death and now it was as bound here as if it were in chains. Were chains or death the only options in this world?  

Who could say? 

"Lucette, my darling daughter," Mother sighed looking thoroughly annoyed and disappointed. "Must we go over this again? All you must do is remove the air from the dome. How can we know if you are successful if you do not remove it?" 

"But, Mother; why must I kill the bird?" 

I did not understand her. I remember growing up with her, believing I could feel her love like sun on my skin. But- this seemed unnecessary and cruel. Had it always been as it was now and I was simply too blind to see? 

Mother tensed with disapproval. "Do you not eat food? Do you turn away the animal that has found its way to the plate?"  

Mother snapped her fingers and all the air left the dome. I turned away as the bird frantically fought the oxygen deprivation. 

"Now Lucette, the bird is dead and another will be brought in. Because of your inability to act, another must die. Do you not understand the consequences of your actions?" 

I felt numb, cold. The blood in my veins seemed to still; the Ice Princess in all her glory. 

"My darling," Mother cooed, as she ran her hands through my hair, "I do this because I love you. One day, you will be queen and the Tenebrarum Bearer. You must be able to punish those who oppose you and increase the power of all witches." 

She kissed my forehead and for the life of me, I couldn't speak or acknowledge it. Was this love? Is this truly all there was? I thought of Delora, as I knew her now. She had cursed me that I would learn kindness. To curse; it seemed an evil and ugly thing and it often was. But wasn't that what Mother was talking about? A cruel act for the greater good? Except... there was some good to teaching compassion, even through brutal methods. What good came from killing life after life to prove you are somehow above the lives of others? 

Mother. 

How had I not seen? 

Mother approached the other side of the room, waving to a servant. "Bring in another bird." 

(No...)  

I realized this was over. My blood thawed and flames overtook me, my very life force boiling to life under the heat. I would not let her do this. She had stolen my energy, but rage was a powerful fuel and, at that moment, I burned bright with it. Raising my hand to the ceiling, I called down a dome that covered only myself. Mother seemed momentarily shocked as she looked at me with confusion. 

"Mother, this is how I can show you the magic is working." I snapped my fingers, and all the air in my dome disappeared. 

Mother held my stare impassively but I would not look away and I know my eyes burned with open defiance. 

Varg, who was watching unacknowledged from the corner, ran to the back of my dome and tried to rend it open with his bare hands, desperate to make me breathe. "Princess, you have made your point!" He shouted. "Stop this!" 

I paid him no mind. Slowly, my chest began to ache. My vision began to turn black and I collapsed weakly to my knees. Mother still did not say or do anything but stared silently at me, her eyes made of stone. I made sure that mine burned back. I was barely able to register the dome dropping as I fell unconscious. 

\--- 

I awoke in my bed against broadness and warmth. Looking up, I realized Varg was pressing me to him, fast asleep beside me. My heart gave a squeeze of uncertainty while his arms caged me, pressing me to his body. Asleep his face was calm and innocent, so unlike the face he wore at other times.  

Was he beast or man, I wondered. But, I remembered bitterly, that neither was he a man nor a beast. Varg was a curse, a piece of Fritz, and nothing more.  

I shook him awake. 

He awoke and smiled down at me with groggy eyes. That smile... it was not wolfish nor hungry. It was genuine and filled with a sweetness that almost made me melt into the mattress. 

"Varg?" I whispered, looking at him unsure. 

He tucked my head beneath his chin and nuzzled down into my hair, sniffing like a dog sniffs his owner for the comfort of the owner's scent. "Hmmm?" 

"May I... speak with Fritz? Please?" 

Varg seemed to pause to consider. I really needed Fritz's council right now; he was my best friend. So much was happening, was changing, and I was left bereft of reason.  

"Is he in there?" I asked. "Can he hear me?" 

"He's still here. He can hear you, but... he does not want to come out," Varg sighed. "He was fighting but now... he's tired." 

I scoffed. "How can I possibly believe you?" 

Varg shrugged. "You don't have to, but it's the truth." 

"Why are you telling me? Why do you care?"  

I felt so bitter and filled with rage. Fritz was giving up? Everyone was leaving me. Why- why must I be alone? I no longer even had good memories of Mother to sustain me. 

Varg released me and stood up, taking a step back from the bed. 

"I know these feelings aren't my own, and yet..." He paused, looking genuinely perplexed. "I guess his emotions were too strong. They've rubbed off on me." 

There was nothing I could say to him about that. If Fritz's feelings were so strong, then where was he? Why was Varg here and he not, even when I asked for him? 

Varg smiled sadly at me, before turning his back to me. 

As he moved away, he spoke so softly that I worried perhaps I had misheard him. 

"Stupid. We both know who you'll choose when the time comes." 

With that, he slipped from the room leaving me alone with my whirling thoughts.


	3. The story changes

_Lucette_  

It was not too long after that day that true chaos and sorrow would ring through my life. My mother had gravely harmed or murdered everyone who dared love me. My father was kept as a statue on a throne, a whisper of what was once a man trapped in shackles made of his own body. His children, my step-siblings, had barely escaped the castle with their lives, almost perishing in Varg's attack as Mythros yanked the chain that choked him once again and forced him to act. While I had never felt much of anything but disdain for my stepfamily, I realized this was because I was convinced they would not love me. The fact that some of them did all the same was to my shame. They were compassionate people and they certainly did not deserve death or pain. My step-mother's whereabouts remained unknown and despite my efforts, I could not find her within the castle walls. 

The Marchen's people came to save me, to help me escape and be free from my mother. I thought they had abandoned me, but I was so very wrong. Looking back, I truly wish they would have; at least they would still draw breath now. But Mother found us out, taking her vengeance by wrenching Garland's heart from his chest, and in that one action, destroying Jurien's heart as well. The price they paid for me, for defying Mother, was much too high.  

We did escape to the Marchen, but it was far too dangerous to stay. Varg came for me of course, destroying everything in his path until he stood panting among the ruined remains of the front of the Marchen. It was so very like Varg to lose every ounce of composure in his quest to secure me, possessive and compelled to do whatever he must as he was once steered mercilessly once again by his masters. 

It was discovered, however, before he arrived, that I had the key to unlocking a very powerful witch's powers, Waltz's powers, within my grasp while I was at the castle. And it was still in my room. 

"Tomorrow night, at midnight," Parfait had whispered to me. "We will come for you and bring down your mother, one way or another. Bring what we need." 

Parfait shoved me into Varg's waiting embrace and that was how I ended up here, trudging back to the palace with his hand gripped almost painfully on my upper arm. 

"You're hurting me, you know," I told him, leveling him with a glare which he didn't return. 

"I don't care," he replied through gritted teeth. 

"You'll leave a bruise, Varg," I continued, bristling at still being ignored. 

"I don't care."  

Varg trudged ever forward refusing to spare me a passing glance. 

I wrenched my arm from his hand and started to walk forward on my own, but in a matter of a few moments, Varg had turned and walked me up against the wall, his hands pinning my wrists astride my head. 

"What in the hell is the matter with you?!?!?" he roared, so close to my face that my ears rang. 

"I could ask you the same thing!" I replied, equally venomous. "You blew up the Marchen, for no reason. What have they ever done to you?" 

His hand lifted and slammed on the wall right beside my head before he resumed holding my wrist. 

"They. Took. YOU!" He was looking past me now, his eyes full of rage and fear. 

"I chose to go-" I started but he cut me off. 

"I know!" he raged. "That's what makes it worse! Just... stop getting stolen from places! They come and you go and I have to track you, find you, all over again and one day I may not be able to!" 

"Fine! Then don't!"  

I was so angry, furious because I felt guilty and I had no idea why. 

"It's not a god damn choice Princess, it's a COMPULSION!!!" he roared, his voice full of despair and sorrow. "Just tell me where you want to go and we will go. But stop fucking leaving me and disappearing! Where do you want to go, huh? Right now, tell me, and that's where we'll go!" 

"Is that so?" I laughed bitterly. "You are bound as I am. I cannot escape Mother, but you cannot take me ANYWHERE while Mythros still holds your tether!" 

Varg visibly flinched, as if I struck him. "Just tell me where you want to go," Varg whispered. 

I wriggled my wrists and squirmed, trying to get out of his hold. "I want to go to the palace, you asshole! I ALREADY TOLD YOU THAT!!!" 

He nodded, just a quick inclination of his head.  

"Fine!" he snapped, and letting go of one of my wrists, he began dragging me with the other one towards the gates. As we got closer, I realized Mother was waiting for us. 

As we approached, she turned her eyes, icy and angry, to my face.  

"Have you really grown so disobedient in my absence?" She spat at me. 

Varg released my wrist but stood next to me, staring straight ahead. 

"Would you really rather be with those- those- TRAITORS who cursed you than your own mother?" She sneered at me. 

I met her gaze without hesitation. "Mother, you are sick. You are not well! I don't know why you are doing this, why you would hate the kingdom so deeply? These are not the people who persecuted witches; these are common and ordinary folk. They are doing nothing more than survive! How can you begrudge them that?!" 

Mother was taken aback. "Lucette, they are MONSTERS!" 

"They are not!" I yelled back. "And they will not become so simply because you tell them they must." 

Varg flinched beside me, recoiling slightly from my words and their meaning before he regained himself. 

Mother laughed. "My my, you've grown quite outspoken in my absence. It seems to me someone has led you far astray without me here to guide and teach you. Well, no matter. You shall soon be the daughter you should have been." She smiled widely. "I love you, and so I will save you from yourself." 

Before I could react, I saw a memory spell hurtling toward me. I felt a sudden jerk to my left as Varg pulled me from its path at the last second. I looked up to him but his face was fixed firmly on Mother's face. 

"Ahhh, I forgot about you." She waved her hand, nonchalantly. "Go, Wolf, you are dismissed." 

Varg shook his head, and then looked down at me. "You were going to hurt her. I don't intend to obey someone who would hurt the princess." 

Mother stared wide-eyed and sputtering in outrage for a moment, before summoning Mythros.  

"Mythros, it seems you have a rabid mutt," she snarled. "Force it to behave." 

Mythros smiled before extending his hand and beginning to curl it into a fist. Varg immediately doubled over in pain. I don't know why I did it but I sank to my knees beside him and put my forehead to his. He looked surprised for a moment before grimacing with pain again. 

"Fight it, Varg," I whispered. "I don't think you want to do the things they make you do. You are not his. Fight it." 

"Oh, enough of this," Mother said, looking annoyed.  

She snapped her fingers and Varg and I were thrown away from each other, hard and brutal onto the paved road. The last thing I remembered was the pain of the collision before the lights went out behind my eyes and I knew no more.  

\--- 

   
I awoke in my bed. Again. But this time there was no one watching me. 

Rising to stand, I took inventory of my body. I was sore but had no serious injuries, especially considering I got slammed into a stone pathway. Looking out the window, I could see that the sun had already gone down but judging by the moon's progress, it was not yet midnight and a few hours were left till the deadline. Thank God, I had time. Opening the third drawer of my dresser, I carefully removed the loose board at the back. Inside, exactly where I had left them, sat Neverland (a gilded box) and Tinkerbell (the corresponding key.) Inside was Waltz's shadow, and with it, access to the very powerful witch sleeping inside his body.  

For the sake of my kingdom, I knew I had to wait here until close to 12 and then sneak to the front gate. I knew that. It would be foolish to leave any earlier. But I just kept seeing Varg's face contorted in pain. I shouldn't search for him, he would try to make me stay, not to mention that he was simply... incorrigible. However... 

I stood quickly, tucking the box and key into my skirts. I'm going to check for Fritz's sake, I told myself. Nothing else, just making sure that Varg is okay because then Fritz will be okay. That's the only reason.  

I nodded my head vigorously, agreeing with myself, before carefully opening my door and slipping out. I didn't waste any time checking the upper rooms, because this was where the nice rooms were. No one who defied Mother, aside from her flesh and blood apparently, ended up in a nice room. Instead, I crept towards the dungeon as quietly as I could. 

I was lucky, and the castle was quiet. There was no one to sneak past, and this was a blessing. I can't imagine I would have been very good at it. 

The dungeons were not hard to search; there was hardly anyone in there and those left may or may not have been breathing. Since Mother took power, trials had been suspended and everyone in the dungeon had been 'destroyed.' I shuddered to think of it. It stood to reason that the only closed door was the only one I needed to check. I didn't have a lot of magical knowledge, but an air expansion spell was enough to pop the lock. I could not have been prepared for the scene I walked in on. 

Varg was covered in filth and blood. He still had on his usual trousers, though they were stained and ripped in some places, but his chest was bare, showcasing weeping wounds all across his skin. I suspected for a brief moment of ignorance that whoever had tortured him would have left even more on his back. Then a pained groan fell from his lips as a new cut formed. The worst part of it, however, was who held the knife. Varg was slowly carving into his own skin and bleeding out on the floor. 

Horrified, I rushed over and tried to grab his hand and restrain him. "What the hell are you doing, you idiot!?!?!?" 

I wasn't strong enough, and even though I pulled with all my might, his hand-carved into fresh skin. His scream quickly morphed to a hoarse laugh. 

"Oh Princess," he said, grimacing over the pain. "They found a new compulsion for me. Your Mother certainly does have a wicked mind." I threw all my weight onto his arm and gripped it to my chest, practically sitting on his hand to keep it from slicing. 

"What is it? What's the spell?" I demanded frantically. I could feel his hand twitch under me. 

"I don't know, honestly. But what you're doing right now, it's almost making me ITCH." He was writhing from the effort of not throwing me off his arm.  

"I guess I was too much trouble to bother torturing me herself and I was too bad of a dog to kill outright," he said with a rueful smile. 

His arm twitched harder under me. He met my eyes for a brief second then looked away. "I know this will hurt you but... there's no reason for you to stop me. She destroyed what was left of Fritz's consciousness first, some kind of mercy I can only assume she's going to use against you later. It was brutal magic, but quick. So, little Princess, just get off this dirty floor and let me finish my work." 

He smiled at me, with what I assume was his best attempt at a wolfish smile. It just came across as sad. "You know how I love blood..." 

His legs were kicking out now, not trying to stand, but unable to stay still. "Get... off... and... go!" 

His teeth were clenching from the effort. What was I going to do? I had no idea how to break this spell and no time to figure it out. He was going to die before I could get anyone from the Marchen to actually help him. With this rate, he wouldn't have till midnight.  

Suddenly he swung his other hand forward and pushed me. I sprawled on the floor in front of him. The hand with the knife shot up and carved a deep groove in his shoulder, the skin splitting as blood began to ooze from the new wound. With no other ideas I walked over and took the box from my skirts, swinging it high and smacking it down on his head.  

Thankfully, he slumped over and the knife was still. I ran to the prison guards station and pulled out the first aid kit there. Sprinting back, I rolled him onto his back where there were no wounds. The ones on the front, though, were many and deep so I got to work, cleaning them and stitching together the worst of them. Then I placed my hands on them and funneled as much magic as I knew into them, helping them knit together and heal.  

I estimated that an hour passed in silence, with me quietly working on Varg's body. When he finally groaned and sat up again, I had already healed about 3/4ths of his wounds, and the ones left weren't deep. I had hidden the knife but it proved unnecessary. With the loss of consciousness, the compulsion seemed to be gone.


	4. All the Better to Eat You With

_Varg_  

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was that I no longer felt the need to bloody myself. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. It had been nice to believe it would all be over soon enough. 

The second thing I noticed was her. Her hands were bloody, her skirt filthy. My Lucy looked thoroughly exhausted. And as I looked down at my chest, I knew why. 

I let out a pained groan. "God dammit Princess, what did you do?" 

She looked at me with those sharp eyes, clearly incredulous. "I saved you, you ingrate!" She shouted, all righteous indignation and annoyance. 

I backed away from her to the far wall, seething. "Did it ever occur to you that I DIDN'T WANT TO BE SAVED?!?!?" 

That seemed to throw her a bit. She tilted her head, asking with confusion evident in her voice, "Not want to be... what? What are you talking about?" 

Beautiful, but clueless; of course she didn't understand. When did she ever? 

"Why couldn't you just let me die in peace?" I asked in pained resignation. "Why do you have to come in here, with your big eyes and your stubborn words and your hair in those pigtails you are far too old for?" 

She said nothing, her eyes glaring at me with defiance. 

"I truly wish I could give you Fritz, leave you with his love," I explained brokenly. "But she destroyed him, after what happened at the gate. I'm sorry. At least it's would have been the last time I failed you!" 

I grit my teeth and slammed my fist into the floor below me. "But no! Even my death you interrupt, and for what? I have nothing of him to give you! I am all that's left." 

I shook my head, getting further irritated just thinking about it. "You have literally the worst sense of self-preservation I have ever seen. You shouldn't have come here alone. I am the big bad wolf! I was made to devour Little Red Riding Hood, not fall in love with her. It's my job to destroy you!" 

The pain that wracked my body was not physical. My heart felt shattered. I didn't want to say anymore, but I seemed incapable of shutting the hell up. 

"But this wolf can't," I sighed. "You can't destroy the person you fall in love with. The Big Bad Wolf doesn't have a happily ever after to begin with."  

I put my head in my hands. "The hunter is dead now, failed in his mission. There is only me; I who long to devour you, consume you, destroy you. Just go, leave me in peace." 

I indicated the door, not daring look at her face. "I'll do it myself after you're gone. Just go." 

I heard the muffled sound of footsteps on the ground and waited for them to fade and disappear. But no, they were getting closer and as I looked up- 

*SMACK* 

 

 _Lucette_  

I stalked across the floor and smacked his face. HARD. 

"What the hell?" He stared at me and even had the audacity to look like his feelings were hurt. 

"Y-You- infuriating and stupid man!" I shouted.  

I paced in front of him, throwing angry glares down in his direction, which he met with a confused stare while he rubbed his burning cheek. I bet it hurt. Good. 

"I loved 'the Hunter' as you call him; my knight, my Fritz. He was my best friend and losing him, is-" I cut off with a heavy swallow, unable to finish. I took a breath, trying to stay focused. 

"But the Hunter is dead now. Will you really deprive me of my Wolf and leave me so defenseless?"

I glared down at him. 

His eyes were wide with surprise. "YOUR Wolf?" 

"Yes, My Wolf. Mine. Not Mythros's and certainly not Mother's. I- you will not leave me! You will not abandon me!"

I was gaining momentum now, walking faster. 

"Everyone- EVERYONE is gone. I have been robbed of those I cared for, made to care for more people, and then had them taken as well. My whole way of living has been destroyed, the truth I thought I knew proved false. Even my memories are not my own, shifted and defiled to suit the needs of a woman I once believed loved me; the only one I believed I did." 

Varg jumped to his feet, advancing on me as he shouted. "I am compelled to devour you! Own you, destroy you, leave nothing in my wake!"  

"Fine! Do it! Destroy me!" I yelled back, not giving an inch. "You can destroy me every damn day, build me back up, and we'll start all over again. What could you possibly break that hasn't already been broken? Don't you get it, Varg?!?! YOU DON'T SCARE ME." 

He growled, looming as he clenched his hands into tight fists. "I SHOULD!" 

I placed my hands on his chest and pushed him back against the wall, standing on my tip toes to meet his eyes. "Well, YOU DON'T! Deal with it." 

He threw his head back, arms to the sky as if looking for a lightning bolt to come put him out of his misery. Filled with irritation, I clenched his hair in my fist and drug his face to mine.  

I do not know where the knowledge came from, but I felt it fill me as surely as my blood pumped in my veins and there was breath in my lungs. The words came out as a counterspell and I felt a piece of my very essence breaking off to secure the power in place so as to overcome the gap my inexperience left me with. Even as I propelled myself forward irrationally and impulsively, I knew in the recesses of my mind what I was doing. This was a soul spell, and I'd never, ever be able to regain what I was about to sacrifice. 

"Sanctified by my right as the true Tenebrarum Bearer," I said, voice deep and guttural in a way I have never heard my own voice sound, "with this kiss as my promise, my word as my bond; I cast this spell and break your GOD DAMN leash. I defy Mythos's claim, I deny my mother's claim. I claim you as my own." 

I kissed him with everything I had, determined and aggressive, so much so that my lips throbbed back in response. I bit his bottom lip, hard, and before I knew what was happening our positions were reversed and it was Varg who was pushing me into the wall, growling low in his chest. 

He kissed me back, deeply, and then pressed his forehead to mine. "You have no idea what you're asking for." 

"I do know." 

"Remember that if you claim me, I'll claim you." He leaned in and ran his tongue up my ear. "I'll claim all of you. And I'll never let you run from me again." 

"I'm counting on it," I whispered. 

He moaned quietly at my words and I could feel him getting hard against my body.  

'That's what men do when they want you,' I thought. I seemed to vaguely remember the servant girls talking about it while they peeled potatoes. 

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Lucy," Varg murmured against the skin of my neck as he nipped at my shoulder. No one called me Lucy. No one. But it did sound lovely, rolling off his tongue. It made me shiver a little and I said nothing to dissuade him.  

"And don't lie to me either," he added. 

"I won't," I told him, and I meant it. 

"Do you trust me?" he asked. 

"Yes."  

"Do you love me?" 

"Yes," I answered with no hesitation, and that seemed to surprise us both. 

He closed his eyes, and his arms shook just a little around me as he lifted his head. "Really?" 

"Yes," I nodded, placing my hand on his cheek. "I love you, Varg." 

"I love you too, Lucy."


	5. A new kind of fairy tale

_Lucette_  

As his lips met mine, nothing had ever tasted so sweet, and I loved him and I also hated him (just a little) but mostly I loved him so I ran my fingers through his hair, twisting it round my fingers and tugging, listening to him growl into my mouth and grinning at that delicious sound. His hands that cupped my cheeks slowly fell, tracing over my bodice, and then I felt his hand begin to- to- reach into the front of my dress to touch my breasts?!? 

I smacked his hand away and he looked at me in surprise as if I was the one who had done something strange. 

His brows knit together in confusion. "Princess, are you not ready for, well... I don't understand. Any reason you smacked me? " 

I huffed. "Because you were trying to -I don't know how to say it- FONDLE my chest and I don't even understand what would possess you or why you would be trying to do that-" 

"I suppose 'fondle' is the right word, but I am still not understanding..."

He trailed off mid-thought and then his eyes went wide as if he suddenly knew something I didn't. He smacked his forehead and buried his face in his hand with a groan.  

"Oh dear lord..." He murmured. 

"What?" I asked, completely annoyed at his reaction. "What on earth are you thinking about?" 

Varg looked into my eyes and then looked away, struggling to hold in laughter. And with that, I felt myself becoming very angry.  

"What is so funny?!?!" I hissed. He looked at my face again, and then the chuckles poured out. They were punctuated with little gasps where his laughing was stretching his stomach wounds and I could not help but think that he deserved that twinge, bent over in laughter at my expense. I turned to leave, furious, but he caught me by the wrist. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Varg pleaded even as he was still wracked with laughter. He was winding down now, trying to swallow the sounds. "Come here Lucy, just come sit down and-" 

I wrenched my arm away and held my head high as I strode out the door. Varg followed me, still straining a little bit, trying to talk in a soothing tone that just came out as teasing more than anything.  

"Oh come on! Slow down, I WILL tell you." 

I glared behind me for a moment. "No," I said firmly. It was not as if we had time anyway. "I have to get to the front gate and meet Waltz and Parfait." 

Varg stopped laughing and he grabbed my shoulders, swinging me around to face him. "Varg, we don't have time to-" 

"They aren't taking you away." He looked into my eyes and I was not sure if it was a promise or a threat that he was pouring in my ear. "You cast the spell, you claimed me and I claimed you and now I will never, NEVER be parted from you again." 

I lifted my hands and placed them on top of his before giving them a squeeze. "Yes, I know," I sighed tiredly. "WE may be leaving with them. I thought that was implied. Why must you worry so much?" 

I offered him a small smile before turning back and intertwining our hands, moving towards the gate again. He said nothing for a few minutes and I began to wonder what he was thinking about. Before I had a chance to ask him, however, he spoke. 

"You do realize I have on no boots or shirt right?" 

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "You'll be fine." 

"It's cold out here though." 

All I could answer with was another sigh. 

\--- 

 

By the time we arrived at the front gate Parfait, Delora, and Waltz waited for us. I had barely managed to hand Neverland and Tinkerbell over to an excited and impatient Waltz before Mother appeared in front of us, beautiful fury and deadly intent flashing in her eyes.  

"Betrayal!!!" She hissed, her eyes falling on all of us before stopping at me. "And you, the sneakiest rodent of all of them!"  

She took a step toward me, ignoring how Waltz and Varg did the same to my sides. "How DARE you, after all I have given for you, the life I provided." 

I laughed, the sound hollow even to my own ears. "What life? You have made a palace into a prison." 

When she smiled at me, her face was cold. No warmth nor love was left on that face for me. "Oh, my darling Lucette. I will be happy to show you how wrong you are about what constitutes a prison. But for now, I will settle for your agony."  

She flung a spell at me. It crackled like lightning coming from her hand, and I recognized it. It was, indeed, a spell to cause agony. Once the lightning touched a person, it became absorbed by one's body, creating the sensation of fire licking up and down one's limbs. With no time to move, I simply braced for it but the spell stopped as it slammed into an invisible wall, the shield made visible as cracks in it appeared. 

I saw Mother's eyes change from fury to frustration. Her eyes swept to my right, eyeing Waltz with a venomous stare.  

"You." She sneered at him.  

"Yep," he said, but his voice was now that of a man's and as I turned to look at him, I realized that he had his magic back.  

I beamed up at him and he gave me a wink. I heard Varg growl behind me and almost giggled despite the inappropriateness of the situation. Mother raised her arms for another spell, but suddenly Waltz jumped to my back, pressing me against his chest and reaching out a hand to rest on Varg's shoulders. A bright light flashed and I found myself in the Marchen's back room, Waltz's arm still wrapped around me and Varg standing beside me.  

Looking around, Varg immediately pulled me from Waltz's grip, nestling me into his opposite side, growling again. I rolled my eyes while Waltz let out a chuckle, putting his hands up in a surrender motion and taking a step back.  

The others heard the sounds and came around the corner, Karma, Rumpel, and Annice barreling in. Seeing Varg amongst us, Karma immediately pulled his sword and took a step forward.  

Waltz stepped between them, giving Karma a comforting glance. "It's fine. I guess he flipped sides."  

Karma looked around Waltz, eyeing Varg suspiciously. "Is that so?" 

I coughed, bringing Karma's attention to me. "It's an extremely long story, can we please just say he isn't dangerous to anyone here and talk about what on earth is happening with Parfait and Delora at the gate?"  

"I wouldn't say not dangerous to ANYONE..." Varg grumbled under his breath, eyeing Waltz's back. 

I ignored him and looked to Waltz to explain, but suddenly, no one would meet my eye. After a few moments of silence, Rumpel spoke. "They have a plan, princess. We're not sure on the exact details, only that it needed to be only them there."  

I eyed him dubiously. "If you don't know, then why does everyone look so suspicious?"  

With a sigh, Rumpel answered me. "Because when they left, Delora was shaken and pale while Parfait seemed fiercely determined. So whatever they are planning is scary beyond reasoning to the witch."  

I rounded on Waltz, pushing at his chest. "Why on earth did you send us back here then? Take us back this instant!"  

The room was quiet and no sound came from anyone but me, my heart beating quickly in my chest and breath coming out in short gasps. Waltz grit his teeth before answering. "Because whatever they are doing is important and they don't need trying to keep you alive there as a distraction."  

His voice was strained, and I could tell he hated to leave them too. "Now," he murmured, "Everyone to bed. They made it clear they wouldn't be back tonight, no matter what. If they are not back by tomorrow at 6, we will go to the palace and find them."  

His words left little room for argument and even I knew that trying to ask any more questions would be a waste.  

Karma sighed, "Come on Varg, I'm sure between myself and Rumpel we can find you a shirt and some shoes."  

Varg eyed Rumpel's clothing, his eyes making it clear that he didn't consider what Rumpel wore actual clothes, but he said nothing. I slowly walked up the stairs, not in any hurry to get to my bedroom where all that awaited me was a night of apprehension and waiting.


	6. Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

_Varg_

  
After getting clothes from Karma (because there was no way in hell I was wearing one of those robes Rumpel thought made him look dashing,) I was told where a guest room was and I almost died laughing from the look on his face when I told Karma that Lucy would want me with her. I wasn't actually sure that was true, but I figured it probably was, and I sure as hell wasn't going to be busy in another room while she sat there, scared and alone. She would have to send me away, and I would only go if SHE did. Karma obviously didn't believe me, so he walked me down the hall towards where she had been staying.

This was a lot to take in. I had literally blown this place up and it seemed that no one here would be forgetting that anytime soon. Not that I blamed them, but it made me itch. I didn't really like being around people in general and this place was even worse than usual. But the fact was, this was where Lucy was so I guess that meant this was where I'd be too. At least until she decided we were off on some new, most probably suicidal adventure. God help me.

Karma knocked on the door and waited for her to ask who it was. When she called out, he told her that I had said she would want to share a room.

He glanced back at me, before adding, "But do not feel pressured, I am more than happy to escort him to an open room and MAKE SURE he stays there." I

just glared at him. Was everyone in this place in love with her? I knew those eyes. Jealousy.

"No Karma, just let him in." Lucy's voice sounded from the other side. I smirked at him before taking a step forward. Karma still hadn't moved.

"Are you absolutely sure?" Oooohh, now jealousy and anger. Interesting.

"YES, Karma. Now let him in the room. This is ridiculous."

Karma took a step back, fists clenched. "Fine, I'll be down the hall."

He quickly turned and walked away, obviously seething. I couldn't help the grin on my face at that. That's right, she chose me. And I'll be damned if that didn't feel amazing.

I was feeling pretty cocky when I opened that door and stepped inside, kicking it closed behind me. It took me a minute to find her, but when I did-

Oh for fuck's sake. It really wasn't fair how beautiful she was.

She was wearing a white nightshirt, one that fell to her knees, with lace at the top that swooped down to barely reveal the top swell of her breasts. The shirt was sleeveless and she had pulled her pigtails out, her auburn hair falling in straight lines to the small of her back. I briefly wondered if this was a purposeful attempt to drive me mad, but then I remembered her response when I had tried to feel under her bodice. She had no idea what she was doing to me. She turned around, the fabric shifting with her, and I realized that in the candlelight her shirt was nearly see through. That was certainly not helping. As her eyes lit on mine, she smiled and it was genuine and bright and I would gladly stay by her side all my life just to see that smile one more time.

And that was the moment I realized I was well and truly screwed.

Lucy ran over to me, throwing her arms around my neck and pressing her lips against mine. I fought down the growl threatening to erupt and forced my hands to settle on her hips without grabbing them. I had made the mistake of scaring her before, not again.

Lucy leaned back and looked up at me, her eyes a little doubtful. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

I gulped, thinking about how to put this. First things first though, "No, Princess. Nothing's wrong. Just go sit on the bed for a minute, I can't think with you pressed up against me like this."

I thought gentle honesty was probably my best bet, and I watched a blush rise to her cheeks before she took a few steps back and gingerly lowered herself onto the edge of the bed. She was even more attractive with her face flushed and that made my brain take off without me, imagining her flushing underneath me while slid in and out, writhing with pleasure when I made her cum again and again until she couldn't speak, and then flipping her over to... NO. Not helping. I realized my pants were already feeling far too constricting and I tried to subtly adjust them, finding the slightest bit of relief. I leaned back against the wall, crossing my arms and legs.

"Alright Lucy, you said you trust me right?"

She nodded, and I'll be damned if she didn't look at me so eager and so trusting, in ways I certainly didn't deserve. "Good, so I'm going to ask you some questions now, and say some things that might make you a little embarrassed, but we need to talk about these things now before we are kissing and laying down together. Okay?"

She nodded again, and that innocent, vulnerable look threatened to break me. I had never in my life seen her look at anyone with openness in her eyes, let alone vulnerability. And here she was, looking at me like I wasn't born just to devour her. Again, the girl had no sense of self-preservation what-so-ever. But I'd try to be worthy of that trust, I'd deny my nature at least this once.

"First question. Do you know why I was trying to put my hand down your bodice?"

Lucy crossed her arms as if subconsciously making sure it didn't happen again. "No, I found that confusing." She looked at her feet. No surprise there, based on her response.

"Okay, have YOU ever touched your breasts for more than just getting dressed?"

Her face reddened again, a deeper hue this time. "No.," she said quietly, trying not to look at me.

"Then why are you embarrassed, if you don't know WHY someone would touch their breasts?"

Still looking at her feet, she just gave me a non-committal shrug. "I mean, I've heard things; people talking. I just don't understand what the big deal is, or why you wanted to touch them."

I tried not to grin. "Actually, it's a lot more fun for you when they're touched than it is for the other person. Don't get me wrong, many men, including me, love breasts. But it feels good for some women. Really good."

She eyed me with suspicion and raised an eyebrow. "And how would you know this?"

This time, I did grin. "This isn't my first time with a woman, Princess."

She didn't seem to know what to say to that, so I continued. "Okay, asking questions isn't going to get us too terribly far, and obviously we need to start a little bit further back than I expected, so just to be clear: If I come over and touch you and show you how good it can feel, are you going to smack me again?"

She grinned at me, a little wickedly. "Maybe."

A thought flitted through my mind, 'Well if you do, I'll just have to punish you.'

I closed my eyes and took a steadying breath. Not today, soon I hoped, but not today. I crossed to the bed, trying very hard not to look like a beast stalking his prey. In the end, that's what we are though, and as I watched Lucy's pupils expand, I realized two things.

The first, that for all my efforts, there was no hiding my compulsions from Lucy. She knew exactly what I was and playing as if I was gentle and soft was a lost cause.

The second, her breath heaving and her eyes never daring to leave mine, she LIKED that.

I slid into bed behind her, resting my back on the headboard. Lucy turned to move towards me and I held up my hand to stop her, just for a moment.

"Before we start, I need you to know; It is not in me to hold back. I know that I have no ability to do anything in moderation. That's just a fact. I do, however, have the ability to stop completely."

Lucy quirked her head to the side, "I don't understand."

I reached forward and pulled her between my thighs, her back to my chest. Her breath hitched slightly, but she said nothing, waiting. I wrapped an arm around her waist and nuzzled into her neck. I inhaled, smelling the scent of her skin, more potent than any drug known to man or beast.

"I am a wild animal, Lucy. I crave you, need to touch you, own you. I'm possessive and I have an unshakable urge to mark you and claim you, again and again."

She gave a little moan at that and I panted back, trying to finish what I was saying. "Stop squirming!" I growled, and she stilled.

A steadying breath just meant I inhaled her scent again and I fought back the urge to bite her shoulder. Delicious agony, her sitting here in front of me willing to be taken while I forced myself not to take her. I belatedly realized I should have stayed on the other side of the room until all the talking was done.

"What I'm trying to say is, in here, I am going to do what I want to you. I'm going to tease you and take you, I might make you cry, I may make you beg. I am more beast than man, I will never be a gentle lover."

Lucy was shaking now and I cursed my selfish blood. She deserved better than what I could give her, but this was all I had.

"Are you scared, Lucy?" I asked, feeling guilty at how the thought of her frightened by me, in this bed, sent a wave of pleasure down my spine.

"A little," she admitted, "but mostly I'm curious and excited."

When did her voice get sexy and breathy like that? I know I was designed to crave her but the levels to which she could drive me insane were a constant surprise.  

"Good," I said, my breath tickling her ear and making her squirm some more.

"Damn it, Lucy!" She stopped moving, again, and I hoped I still had enough blood in my brain to explain more.

"Although I was cursed with beastly urges, we are people and no matter how much I want to own you completely, I only want to if it's given freely." This was the important part, and I paused to turn her face towards mine, making sure she was really listening.

"I am not able, in the least, to follow any subtle directions. But if you say so, I can and will stop. I want you to know that I will probably leave the room after that, but I won't be angry. I will calm down, and then I can come back as the man, not the wolf, and we can deal with it." I tightened my arms around her, hugging her to my chest. "This is the only way I can offer for us to be together, but you don't have to take the offer. You also don't have to decide right now. It's a lot to take in."

Lucy nodded, and snuggled into my arms. "So what do I say if I want you to stop?"

I thought for a moment. "You can say Letta. It is a warrior's word that Fritz knew, so it is locked in my brain. If I hear it, I'll know what it means immediately and that will be my cue."

Lucy looked at me over her shoulder and smiled. "Lovely. So if you're done with your lecture, I believe you were about to teach me why my breasts were so appealing."

Never one to mince words, my Lucy.

"Oh Princess, I would love nothing more," I said with a smirk as I pulled her back against my chest.


	7. Bottomless Wishing Wells

_Lucette_

The coy face I had painted across my features nearly slipped the moment his hand touched the underside of my breast. Varg's fingers were smooth, likely a symptom of the little time he had actually been in existence. Clearly, there were more differences between his and Fritz's bodies than I had noticed. I had been so nervous to have him come back to my room, after what happened in the dungeon. It also felt so very wrong to be here, reveling in the delights of each other's bodies, while our friends stood against Mother.

But then again, if we wanted to debate morals, Varg was but a curse and I was but a symbol for all that was wrong in our kingdom. So perhaps morals had no place in this love of ours.

As his hands cupped the soft roundness of my chest, any thoughts of ethics were quickly quieted and a moan slipped past my lips that had me blushing furiously.

"Oh," Varg whispered in my ear, nibbling my ear lobe. "So wanton, my Love."

His fingers ghosted across one of my nipples, the lightest of touches, and I moaned again, unable to quiet myself. "Who would have thought that the Crown Princess would be so shameless?"

Every word sent a little jolt right through me and I felt throbbing between my legs. I straightened my back and glared, even though he was behind me. "Who do you think you are, Wolf, to say such things to- Ooohhh..."

My words were cut off into a throaty sigh as one of Varg's hands palmed my breast, moving his palm in circles which rubbed my nipple and created a bittersweet friction. The contact was both too much and not enough.

I could feel his lips trail soft kisses down my neck and shoulder. Everything was so soft and sweet, tortuously so, and I found my hips rocking slightly without my permission. As he took my nipple between his finger and thumb, the gentleness vanished as he PULLED my nipple upwards, using the natural weight of my breast to create a stretch. Simultaneously, Varg bit my shoulder ferociously, hard enough to lightly draw blood.

I cried out loudly as pain and pleasure fought for dominance in my consciousness. Tears stung my eyes and delicious heat pooled into my stomach, lighting me on fire from the inside out.

I gasped and then hardened my voice. "You can't just bite people!" I told him.

Varg licked and sucked over the wound on my back, making soothing noises and allowing my roundness to settle back naturally to my chest. He still gripped my nipple, but he rolled it between his finger and thumb, letting the oversensitive nub run jolts of pleasure through my body.

"You're not people, you're Lucy, and you're MINE."

Varg brought his mouth back to my ear. "Little Red, do you remember your word, the one to stop me?"

"Y-yes."

I felt him lick the outer shell of my ear and I shivered.

"Remember to use it if you need to." His breath tickled my ear and he moved his mouth to my neck.

Varg brought his other hand forward and began to grope the breast that had yet to be touched, while still teasing the nipple of my other one. As both hands began to flick over and rub my nipples equally, I felt more heat pool in my lower belly. I was panting, moaning, and writhing between Varg's legs. He sealed his mouth to my neck and began to suck, little pinpricks of pain erupting in the spot. Without any warning, he twisted my nipples and I went rigid at the pain and pleasure that fought their way to the surface.

"Nggh-Ahhhh!" Tears ran down my face again and Varg abandoned my neck in favor of leaning my head back and licking them from my face.

"Mmmmm," he mumbled to himself, "Your pleasure, your pain, your submission... all of you is mouthwatering."

I felt warmth flood through me at his words and I smiled broadly, tears still running and nipples still painfully sore.

"Princess, tell me, do you like the pain layered with the pleasure? Are you enduring or are you enjoying?"

I shook my head back and forth. I couldn't answer, it was too embarrassing.

"Mmmmm," he growled, "when you refuse to do what you're told, it makes me want to do bad things to you, Little Girl." One hand abandoned my breast to wrap a fist in my hair and yank it back, exposing my throat. Varg leaned down, sniffing the thin skin that ran over my pulse, sending a trill of fear down my spine.

"Answer me, Love." His teeth grazed my pulse and I whimpered, anxiety and arousal fighting one another as to which would come to the surface and swallow me whole.

"I like it..." I whispered, and he removed his teeth and kissed my jugular instead.

"Good Girl," he purred, before returning both hands to my breasts. I giggled, immediately soothed by the praise.

"I think you understand how amazing your breasts can be now, don't you, Lucy?"

I nodded, still caught in the spell of pleasure he was dragging from me.

"Would you like to find out how good you can feel other places," he asked, grazing the top of my undergarment, "or have you had enough for today?"

I gasped, scared of the implications of his words. I wanted to be with him, in every way, but I knew I wasn't ready to do it all tonight. Varg chuckled. "As much as I enjoy that taste of terror, Little Red, I have no intention of taking you tonight, the way you are imagining. Tonight, I am teaching you all the ways you can feel good WITHOUT me." I looked at his hands as they stilled, sliding down to my belly and staying there.

"You mean...I can do all this to myself?" I pondered, imagining what it would be like to be in bed, alone, doing these things.

"Of course, Princess. Just because we have bound each other does not mean I have to be your sole source of pleasure." He squeezed me from behind, so different from the Wolf lapping up my tears mere minutes ago. "Just as my body is both yours and mine, the same is true for you. You should know how to make it sigh with ecstasy."

I felt tears in my eyes again for entirely different reasons, taken aback by the sweetness of such a sentiment. He talked of owning me, devouring me, and yet, he did not try to make me dependent or weak. Varg had never asked me to be less of what I am, the only person who hadn't tried to turn me into what they thought I needed to be. He loved who I was, not my potential, but the woman in front of him right now. It was so unfamiliar and such a relief, and suddenly I was sobbing. I scrambled to catch my breath, taking in gasps as my body shook and waves of bittersweet joy broke upon me.

Varg turned me in his arms, pulling me into his lap, and held me tightly. "Did I hurt you? Did I give you more than you could take?" he whispered, and it's all I could do to shake my head no.

My cries burst out from the deepest pit of my soul, and suddenly it wasn't just this joy that I was crying over. The dam was broken and I cried for all the things I was never allowed to mourn for, across my 18 years. Mother had never allowed me tears and now that I had started, I could not seem to contain them.

Varg tightened his grip even further, somehow understanding what I needed. "Give me everything you can no longer bear to carry alone," he whispered, and I did.

I cried for Mother, for all those she had harmed, and all that she had lost. I cried for my Father, who had suffered greatly. My Step Family, Delora, Parfait, Fritz... the list was long and I took my time, living my grief in the first safe place I had ever known. When almost all of the tears had been spent, I mourned for myself. I cried for all of the time I had stolen from me, all of the love that I never received, all of the hatred that had been thrust upon me.

But the person I cried the most for was Varg. He was the embodiment of a curse, a knot of compulsions that often only caused him pain. Mythros had doomed him to torment and agony the minute he had created him. I was the only balm that soothed him and no one could have predicted that he would ever be able to feel that from me. The world had been cruel to him, and there in the warmth of his arms, I silently vowed that no one would ever hurt him again.


	8. A Yummy Candy Cottage

_Varg_

I held her while she cried and thanked whatever divine was watching over me that she didn't notice how fucking uncomfortable I was. I'm not an idiot, I knew what to say to make her feel a little better, how to act. But that's what it was, an act. Which meant that after that first line, I was out of material. Not because I didn't love her and not because I didn't want to give her what she needed, but because that was not something anyone had ever taught me how to handle.

It... hurt. Physically, my chest was on fire. When that mixture of pain and pleasure crossed her face just a few minutes ago, when she cried out and those innocent little tears rolled down her face: I had never felt so amazing in my life. But it made me so HUNGRY. I didn't anticipate how badly I would need her because I honestly figured it wasn't possible to crave her more than I already did. I was dangerously wrong.

Now she was crying for bad reasons that I didn't cause and I was not built for this. I needed to rip something apart because she was crying, hurt someone who I could put the blame on. Or tease her mercilessly and change it so she cried so hard because it felt so GOOD. Staying still and helpless while she sobbed into me was the worst torture I could imagine (and that's from the man who was magically compelled to cut his own skin until he bled to death.) At a minimum, the animal that lived in my soul fought to run and howl, let something out of me somehow, and tear something to shreds even if it was nothing more than cattle.

This- this was why the wolf never had a happy ending. We aren't complex creatures. Lucy's a million layers; complicated, sweet at times, bitter and cold at others. All that I was created with was hunger and tenuous self-control. Because of Fritz, I fell in love, and now these were my feelings alone because he was dead and I still loved her. I would protect her from anything, stand at her side, and eviscerate anyone who tried to hurt her. But I didn't know how to fix it when she cried.

I had been so lost in my thoughts, so completely absorbed in berating myself for not knowing how to help, that I missed the part where she had stopped crying. And was still straddling me. And was rubbing up against me, back and forth, seeking the friction between her legs because while my mind went off at some length my body had never got the memo to calm the fuck down. But as my mind caught up and took off running towards very filthy and pleasant thoughts, I growled and forced myself to still her hips. I know I clamped down hard because she flinched and I was confident she would have bruises of my fingertips later. The wolf in me growled. 'How it should be,' he said, how I should mark her because she is MINE. Mine, Mine, Mine. I shook, trying to control it, this desire that was swallowing me whole.

"Princess..." I began, my voice low and throaty. "There are many things I do not know, but I am fairly positive women do not cry like that because they want... to be pleasured." The last word was a fucking moan, because gods, I needed to consume that pleasure. So...hungry...

I know that my eyes must have been wild and feral because I saw her lips part and she shivered. I wanted to bite her lip, needed to. So full and lush and then it would stay red for a week while it healed. Lucy was mine, all mine. Possessive and aching, I felt my control slipping.

"Please Varg, I- need to get it out. Let me lose myself, it felt sooo good earlier. You said you'd show me... Show me!" She bit her lip and my soul howled in complaint because I needed that, to do that. I leaned forward and wrenched it from her teeth, swallowing her gasp of surprise. And I nibbled and licked her lip, sucking it into my mouth and she moaned against me and it didn't matter what was right anymore because the man was gone and only the beast remained.

I dug my fingers into her hips further and as she yelped, I drug the wetness between her legs across my cock, and the yelp changed to a moan. I released her lip and moved to her neck, pulling her back and forth across my lap and listening to her breathless moans. She panted and I sucked on her neck and shoulder, savoring the sweet taste of her sweat.

"V-varg?" She breathed, clamping her hands on my shoulders.

"Mmmm?" I asked, continuing my assault, continuing to mark her where everyone would see it in the morning. Karma, Waltz, all of them. MINE.

"Wh-wh-what is thi-is? I feel s-so strange." I smiled as her hips tried to move faster and when I slowed her in response, I was rewarded with a frustrated little puff of air.

"Oh Little Red, that feeling coiling in your belly," I began, thrusting upward and making her moan loudly, "where you feel yourself clenching, your entire sex tightening," another thrust, followed by her yelp, "that, my delicious one, is an orgasm."

I leaned in and bit her earlobe, running my tongue up the shell of her ear. "And I will have it, Princess. You will cum for me tonight."

Her whimpers were increasing in frequency, and I wasn't far behind. She felt so GOOD sliding up and down on me, the friction delicious, the scent of her maddening. Looking at where our bodies were separated only by the thinnest of fabrics I could see she was so wet, and it made me growl loudly, imagining what it would feel like inside her. Not tonight, but soon, soon I would KNOW what it felt like.

I bit her shoulder, hard, and listened to her little cry. I saw the tears glisten in her eyes but not fall, not yet. Moving her faster, I brought my forehead to hers, driving her towards her end, determined to have her cum all over my lap, sloppy and desperate, before I returned the favor.

"Do you want to cry for me, little girl?" Her eyes snapped open and grew wide and she sucked her lip between her teeth and moaned. Lust was painted all over her dazed eyes and it made me moan back. Then she closed her eyes again and nodded yes, whimpering in pleasure.

I growled my approval. "Oh, my little masochist. You are so perfect."

She smiled, so happy, and she was beautiful, stunning, and irresistible.

"Little Red, touch your breasts, just as I showed you. Let me watch you, go on. Show me what you learned."

She whimpered and blushed crimson, but she did as she was told and as soon as she began, she erupted in a needy, high pitched squeak and I knew she was teetering at the edge. I rested only one hand on her hip and I let her set her pace, reaching for her high. I watched her pull on her nipples, but grabbed her left wrist and brought it to my mouth.

"Look at me," I commanded, and her eyes shot open, glazed over and yearning. I smiled, baring all my teeth.

"Now cum." And I bit into her wrist.

Her body shuddered and she yelled as the sweet skin covering her vein pulsed in my mouth and tears streamed down her face. I didn't break the skin, no, but the skin was so thin... I could have. She let me hold her life in my mouth as she found her first moment of ecstasy. Her tears, her blood, her cum... all for an animal like me. As she came down to herself, she stilled in my lap and she met my eyes with sheer joy reflected there. Then she glanced down at my still hard cock and looked back up at me, suddenly shy.

I chuckled. "What's going on in that pretty little head of yours, Lucy?"

She kissed me, deeply, not a chaste or gentle kiss, but a passionate, hungry one. "I...I want you to feel like that, too. Can you feel like that, too?"

I moaned, needing that release as much as I needed hers.

"Yes, Little Red," I breathed. "Yes, I can feel like that, too. Would you like to watch?"

She smiled and licked her lips and it was deliciously dirty as she eyed the bulge in my pants.

I groaned. "I'm corrupting you, I think," I said with a smile, taking a sharp intake of breath when she took the initiative and exposed my erection.

Her hands were so tiny and they made me feel like I was on fire. I let her look at me, tentatively touching and feeling, while I twitched underneath her. When she stroked once down my length, I growled, and I knew that my patience had run out.

"You'll want to take off that shirt, Princess if you intend to sleep in it."

She eyed me curiously before pulling it off and for the first time I saw her breasts bared and the nubs tightened in the cold air.

"Oh Lucy," I groaned. "I am marking those."

She looked at me with curious eyes, and I licked my hand and started to stroke myself.

"You'll see in a minute..." I growled, in response to her questioning look.

She was beautiful and looking at those perfect tits I knew I didn't have long. She put her little hand over my big one and moved with me, before moving her hand towards the top, still letting me set the pace, but letting her fingers trail up and down my dick as well. That was all it took, the sight of her small fingers stroking me and with one final stroke, I aimed myself and came, covering those wonderful breasts with my seed. She looked down, mouth wide open, and I growled at the sight.

"Mine," I said gruffly, staring. She looked at me, before looking down at the sticky substance and running a finger through it. My breath hitched as she brought it to her lips and gave a curious lick. I moaned and my cock started to harden again. She tilted her head to the side, questioningly. So innocent.

I smacked my forehead and groaned. "Fuck Lucy, that's- that's a lesson for another day. Let's get you cleaned up."

I had thought I would ruin her, but if she kept this up, it was going to be the other way around. I was doomed.


	9. The Bark and The Bite

_Lucette_

I awoke to the sun shining through my curtains and light breaths on my neck. I sighed happily, snuggling against the warm muscles pressed flush to my back. I never did get around to putting my nightgown back on after all. I smirked to myself. I could get used to this.

I rolled over so that I was facing Varg, running my hands up his bare chest. "My wolf, it's morning..."

He grumbled to himself, his eyes stubbornly shut before he pulled me flush to his chest. I rolled my eyes.

"Come now, we must get up at some point. We can't stay in bed forever."

Varg grumbled some more and growled low in his chest, pulling me closer so my face was flush with his skin.

"Quiet, Woman. I'm sleeping," he mumbled, his voice hoarse and grumpy. I felt my jaw drop open and I started to push against him with earnest.

"Are trying to MUFFLE my voice with your body?!?!" I accused, full of indignation.

He growled loudly now, one eye opening to look down at me. "Yes, I fucking am, but it doesn't seem to be working. Go back to sleep."

"You obnoxious, arrogant little- Let me up!" I snarled. When he failed to move, I shimmied one of my arms around his back and yanked on the small hairs at the base of his neck. He let out a string of curses and loosened his grip, and I took advantage of the time to slip out of his arms. I stood next to the bed, glaring down at him.

He rubbed the back of his head, eyes mutinous and dark. "What is the matter with you? For the love of all that is holy, it's not even breakfast yet!"

I crossed my arms and took a deep steadying breath before answering. Frankly, it didn't help much. "Do you know who makes the breakfast, Varg, here at the Marchen? We make the breakfast. No one is going to wait on you, so stop being entitled and snooty."

His eyes were wide and incredulous. "Says the Crown Princess whose room in her PALACE is as big as the houses in the town for families of FOUR!"

"Yes," I said, smiling deceitful sweetness. "Which is why it is exceptionally ridiculous that the Princess has to tell YOU to stop acting like the people here owe you something."

Varg sat up, rubbing his temples. "I didn't even ask for breakfast! I just said it wasn't even that time yet and- you know what? Nevermind!"

He jumped to his feet, not bothering to dress in more than the pants he slept in, before stomping into the hallway.

I sighed and shook my head back and forth before picking up the articles of clothing and standing by the door. Just as I knew would happen, the door flew open again 2 minutes later and he stopped short as he saw me standing there holding his boots and shirt.

"Oh..." he said, suddenly lacking his usual sarcasm, "Um, Lucy-"

I pushed his things into his chest and sent him stumbling backward into the hallway, before slamming the door behind him and throwing the lock. I grimaced as I realized I was still topless. That seemed to be a rather undignified way to argue. As I crossed the room to put on my own things, I distinctly heard Karma laughing loudly and Varg telling him to shut it before shuffling off.

I dressed simply and, thinking about Varg's comment about me being "too old for pigtails," spun my hair into an elegant bun instead. Typically I'd just ignore him, but him mentioning them made me remember that the reason I wore my hair that way is because that is how Mother always did my hair. So, at least for awhile, no more pigtails. It was a small step, but one I felt was important. I wasn't a little girl anymore. I had grown up a lot in the past few months, and I would need to mature even more once we were able to deal with Mother. As I reached the stairs that would lead me into the dining room, I allowed myself a small moment to mourn her, the Mother I remembered from childhood. No matter what she did, I would always love her. I just had to find it in me to love the people of Angielle more.

I felt a burst of cold air brush over my body and I shivered, searching for the source. But there were now voices downstairs, getting louder, so I shrugged and continued on my way to the source of the noise.

I found the residents of the Marchen huddled around the two beautiful, albeit lightly singed, magic wielders who had become so important to me in the past few months. I stopped myself from running towards Delora and jumping on her, barely. I tempered the wide smile I wanted so badly to allow to stretch across my face into a small grin. Still, a tear leaked from my eye as I noted they were both still very much alive. I was briefly aware that I was feeling very strange, much more emotional than I had ever been. But I didn't have much time to dwell on it as I reached their table.

"I am so glad you are both okay," I told them, and I meant it.

Parfait offered me a small tired smile, but Delora grabbed my arm and I allowed her to pull me into a one arm embrace, even returning the hug with fervor. I loved her so much, almost like the mother I wished I'd had. When she released me, she gave me a quizzical look.

My eyes narrowed slightly. "What is it?"

"You just let me hug you, Princess," she replied bluntly. "You never let anyone hug you."

I blushed and her eyes opened wider and she and parfait shared a meaningful look.

Embarrassed, I hardened my tone. "Don't be silly, I like hugs!" I quipped.

A snort from the corner alerted me to Varg's presence and I turned to him, fixing him with a look that promised violence should he think to laugh at me again. But suddenly, I felt love overflow and my face softened and I found myself walking towards him.

"Varg..." I whispered softly, thinking only of throwing my arms around his neck and kissing him.

His eyes got shifty and he flinched, but he didn't move as I jumped at him, crashing my lips onto his. He caught meas my legs wrapped around his waist but he wasn't kissing me back. I opened my eyes to see why he wasn't responding but he turned to the side and was looking away from me, towards the table.

He let out a faint whistling noise. "So this... isn't normal."

Waltz came around the side of the table and nodded, slowly walking towards us. "No," he said softly, "it really isn't".

He held out a hand and I could sense the magic flickering across his knuckles as he prepared a spell. I knew, at that moment, he was going to attack us. I was furious.

"No," I growled, raising my own hand much faster. Jagged rocks sprung from the floor in front of him, pushing him and everyone at the table back from where Varg and I stood. The rocks grew to be as tall as a man and I smiled in satisfaction when they were high enough that I no longer could see anyone.

I found my attention sweeping back to Varg who was studying me closely, his eyes unreadable. Although his eyes were fixed on mine, his voice was loud and he was talking to the people on the other side of our rock wall.

"Something I should know, guys?" he asked, his tone clearly annoyed.

I smiled sweetly at him and he smiled back, just a little, and gave me a squeeze. The squeeze made me giggle and I buried my head in his neck. I vaguely heard Rumpel ask someone incredulously, "Did she just GIGGLE?!?!"

It was Delora's voice that answered Varg. "Something is happening with the Tenebrarum, it's behaving unpredictably. I think that it is trying to serve both Hildr and Lucette simultaneously."

"It's like it doesn't know who it's owner is," said Waltz.

"Okay..." Varg said, almost to himself. "Lucy?"

I looked up into his dreamy eyes and threaded my hand through his hair. I could hear the light moan he made when I tugged lightly and I smiled broadly.

"Mmmmm?" I asked. "What is it?"

"Do you think you coul- Ah...fuck..." He cut off when I kissed across his neck, nibbling lightly. He took a steadying breath, but I could feel his arms shaking ever so slightly. "Lucy, could you please get rid of the rock wall?"

I eyed him with suspicion and he shook his head back and forth. "No one's going to hurt us, Love. I just need to see them."

I sighed loudly, but waved my hand flippantly, causing the wall to disintegrate into dust on the floor. Then I resumed licking at Varg's neck and he whimpered this little helpless sound and it was so sexy. Gods, I loved him. So very much, and no one else would ever get to love him because he was mine, completely. If anyone so much as looked at him like that, I'd have them arrested. Maybe even killed.

Varg was looking at the group again and they were all watching us, but I could only see Varg. He went to put me down and my hand went to his throat immediately. He looked at me again, but this time was different. This time it was not predator and prey, this time it was two predatory sets of eyes.

"No, I told him, squeezing for emphasis.

Waltz and Delora took a step forward. I turned toward them, ready to eliminate the threat they posed, but Varg held out his hand to stop them and squeezed me gently, bringing my focus back to him.

"I'm fine," he told them quietly, watching me closely with a guarded expression. I smiled at him, filled with joy, and began unbuttoning his shirt. "What's happening to her?"

Parfait shook her head weakly. "It appears that since the Tenebrarum does not know who to serve of the two witches, it is merging their consciousness in an attempt to erase the issue."

Karma's jaw dropped. "But Hildyr is insane!"

"Yes, she is," agreed Parfait miserably.

"Okay," said Annice slowly. "But why is she being so emotional and... um..."

"Horny?" supplied Varg helpfully, ignoring Annice's blush while trying to slow down my hands without pissing me off. It didn't work and he must have decided to stop before I did something he'd regret.

"I suspect it's the same reason her magic is so strong and she knows spells she's never been taught," said Waltz. "Hildyr is unstable; her emotions swing wildly. It seems that her impulsivity is influencing the Princess. And her knowledge is somehow passing to Luccette as well."

"I don't understand why the stone is reaching for Lucette at all," Delora muttered irritably as she paced the room. "Hildyr lives, the stone was fueled by Lucette's magic, but unless she has claimed the Tenebrarum as hers by right, then it shouldn't be-"

Varg flinched just as I reached the last button on his shirt and cursed loudly before asking, "Hypothetically, if someone were to do a soul spell and in the invocation say something similar to 'blah, blah, blah sanctified by my right as the true tenebraum holder, etc.etc.' would that count as claiming or...?"

Waltz groaned and smacked his forehead. "You have to be kidding me..."

Parfait looked completely lost. "What on earth did she do a soul spell for?"

I smiled up at Varg, pulling him closer. "Him!" I sang out, and Varg gave me a small grin and a kiss on my nose, before he turned back to the group, who were all muttering amongst themselves with varying levels or weariness and annoyance.

My hands moved to his belt buckle and Varg cleared his throat. "Just a brief reminder that pretty soon, Lucy is going to have my pants off and you are about to see a lot more of me than you had any plans to."

I palmed his cock through his pants and watched him moan and grit his teeth. I grinned up at him wickedly.

"If anyone tries to stop her, she's going hex you, so I see three options here. You come up with a plan that hopefully involves a closed door. You leave and I let her do whatever she's planning. Or," Varg smirked, "you can stay and watch."

I slid down his body, moving to my knees and hooking my thumbs in the top of his trousers. Varg looked down at my kneeling form with hunger in his eyes.

"You all better hurry," he growled.


	10. Sleeping Beauty

_Varg_

To my utmost and complete disappointment, Delora's solution to the problem at hand was to cast a sleeping spell. In her haste to remove my pants, Lucy was distracted and the spell hit its mark. I glared at the witch, but she was nonplussed and quickly voices were raised all across the main room of the Marchen. Everyone seemed to have an idea of what the best path was to take, and since most of these would put my Lucy in a lot of danger, I was not inclined to allow any of them. They were absolutely out of their minds if they thought I would let them risk her safety. Ignoring them for the moment, I bent down and picked up Lucy's unconscious form, quickly carrying her upstairs and setting her in the bed. After pulling the blankets up to her chin, I gave her a quick kiss on the nose (because, apparently, I was becoming shamefully tame and pathetic) before I descended the stairs and listened to the chorus of loud voices that seemed determined to decide Lucy's fate for her.

"Really," said Karma. "Can you honestly tell me that the best plans you can come up with involve sending the princess to fight her own mother? A woman who has had the benefit of not only age and experience, but also has managed to drain Lucy's abilities in order to come back to this world?" He huffed. "I think that might be the worst idea I've ever heard."

"Well," replied Waltz irritably. "If you have any alternatives, I'm all ears."

"I couldn't care less about anyone else," I cut in, "but the one person who will absolutely NOT be put in danger is Lucette."

"Like you could stop her," Waltz mumbled under his breath.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Let me make this clear. If I have to tie her up and throw her over my damn shoulder to get her clear of anything that may hurt her, including you and your plans, I will. Without hesitation. Get that through your head. She's not getting hurt."

"And if your refusal to allow her to participate is the difference between thousands dying and innocent lives being spared," said Delora pointedly. "You would still try to hide her away? Surely you aren't that dense, Wolf. The consequences could be insurmountable."

I just shrugged. "Witch, I would burn the world to the ground before I let one hair on that beautiful head be touched by danger."

"I honestly don't understand why she has to go to begin with," said Rumpel, hoping to bring the conversation back to more productive discussion. "Magic is not contained by the laws of time and space. Could we not just draw her mother here, thereby completely avoiding the castle and keeping Lucette near people who will fight for her? There are many people who love the Princess that live here and all of us will protect her at all costs."

"Hildyr does not know where the Marchen is," said Parfait. " If we draw her here, we simply risk the lives of all the tenants. Most of them are common people, and you know that she would slaughter them like cattle."

Finally, I had enough of their bickering and banged my hand on the table. The whole group turned to look at me, some with interest, some with fear. Most of the men had murder in their eyes, but I suspect that was less about me and more about who was MINE and not theirs.

"The only person who knows how to defeat the bitch is the bitch herself." I ran my hands through my hair and grumbled. "But we have the two connected through Lucy, she has all of her mother's bullshit in her brain too, so we need to use it."

Delora laughed, the sound haughty and condescending in my ears. "Of course," she said sarcastically, "Let's just wake her up and ask her. Surely she'll answer us THIS time instead of trying to get you nude as quickly as possible."

I growled and had some expletives on the tip of my tongue when Waltz stepped between me and the witch and spoke out. I glared at her around him, wondering if she bled purple or red.

"Varg has a point," said Waltz, looking around the people in the room. "She connected with the tenebraum last night, but she was herself."

Karma raised an eyebrow. "Or perhaps she wasn't," he stated, eyeing me. "Since when does a lady like her invite a dirty wolf to her bed?"

Waltz sighed and fixed him with an exasperated look. "Not helping..." Waltz told him, but Karma just clicked his tongue.

"Jealousy is an ugly emotion, my LADY," I taunted back, smiling my best wolfish grin.

Karma's eyes burned with hatred, but Waltz let out a growl of frustration before turning on everyone. "Sit the HELL down and close your mouths so we can fix the Princess. No one has time for this posturing bit, you can fight about who is the alpha later."

A gasp came from some of the Marchen's residents at Waltz's uncharacteristic cursing. Reluctantly, I bit my tongue but did not sit down. Karma stayed standing as well, staring at the wood grain of the floor in front of him. Waltz ignored us and continued.

"She was normal this morning as well, for a short while, until her mother's influence caught up. So my theory is this," Waltz stated, beginning to pace the floor. "If we talk to her within the first few moments after she wakes, we may be able to get together whatever we need to destroy Hildyr and keep the Princess safe."

Delora nodded her head slowly. "So a series of sleeping spells, while trying to get as much information as we can-"

"Before she becomes heavily influenced by her mother's madness and needs to be put into a slumber again," finished Rumpel, looking thoughtful.

"Alright, so now that the slow ones have caught on," I said irritably, "can we go do this?"

Karma scoffed. "As if you would be any help."

I grit my teeth and closed my eyes, trying to count to ten and come up with good reasons not to rip his throat out. I still hadn't thought of anything other than 'Lucy would be mad' by the time Waltz, Delora, and myself arrived at the room. Waltz had diplomatically made Karma stay downstairs and I only gloated as loudly and pointedly as I could get away with.

Over the series of the next few hours, Lucy was systematically awoken, quickly questioned for information, and put back to sleep when she began reaching for my breeches. The situation was less than ideal, but there is nothing like the girl you're in love with being obsessed with your cock for hours on end to make you all sorts of arrogant. Magically induced or not, I was becoming less and less inclined to deny her said cock, because, come on, but a man has limits to his self-control.

When they finally, FINALLY had all of their information, it was like being released from the sweetest torture chamber. I escaped out the door and into the forest, where I spent the next half hour smacking trees with my cane and thinking decidedly unsexy thoughts in an effort to regain a semblance of restraint.


	11. Where the Light doesn't Penetrate

_Lucette_

I awoke with the distinct and overwhelming feeling that something was very wrong. Red hot rage coursed through my veins and I felt murderous and frustrated. I turned in the bed, finding myself alone and I began to panic. Where was Varg? I wasn't sure why, but somehow I knew his absence was a sign I could not ignore. My panic was met with a surge of contempt and I couldn't tell where it came from. I clutched my head between my hands, trying to squeeze the pounding out of my skull. My mind was frenzied and it felt as if an animal was slamming into the rounded bone, confusing my thoughts and destroying any hope of linear thought process. It was only through sheer willpower that I was able to quiet the disorder to think.

Stumbling from the bed, I almost fell down the stairs to the main area of the building. I needed to find Waltz or Delora, even Parfait. Maybe they could help me sort out what was happening, hopefully more so than my non-magical companions at the Marchen.

Annice was behind the bar and she quickly moved towards me as I reached the bottom, tutting softly in concern before settling me into a seat. Karma and Rumpel appeared through the door to the sitting room, exchanging a worried glance before they came and settled themselves on either side of me. I continued to rub my temples as Annice brought me a herbal tea. I took a long drink and then I turned to Rumpel.

"Where is everyone?" I asked him.

He and Karma shared another look and I began to grow suspicious.

"What is it you aren't telling me?" I demanded, my eyes narrowing. Rumpel's face flushed and he looked at the floor. Karma, however, gave a small laugh and nudged me with his elbow.

"We're not their keepers, you know," he said with a forced grin. "I'm not sure where they've gone off too."

Karma was a good liar, I knew that. Rumpel however...

I fixed my gaze to his red, averted face. "Rumpel... is that true?"

He looked up at me, eyes wide while he stuttered out a series of nonsense. I was about to demand he start making sense when Annice stepped in front of us, stomping her foot and scowling at the boys.

"Enough!" she said forcefully, with a confidence and ferociousness I had never seen her display before. "She has a right to know."

Turning to me, Annice leaned over and sat a hand on my shoulder. I tried not to flinch, still uncomfortable with most physical contact.

"They've gone to the palace, and they are planning to be rid of Hildyr once and for all," she told me quietly.

It was like instinct took over and I had no coherent thoughts nor intentions to open the portal like I did. It was the most natural thing in the world to step through it. My magic closed it automatically behind me. As I stepped into the throne room, the scene that greeted me almost threw me to my knees.

Parfait was lying on the floor, eyes closed with blood leaking from her nose. The stuttered rise and fall of her chest caused me to exhale loudly in relief that for the moment, she yet lived. Waltz stood guard over her, bleeding badly from a gash in his leg. His face was pale but determined as he held a shield that protected them both, hoping to ensure that Mother would not get the chance to finish her off.

Delora stood in front of Mother, sweat running down her pretty face, mingling with tear stains. She was standing her ground, but her whole body was strung tight with fatigue and I knew beyond a doubt that she did not have much more left in her. Mother stared at her, face white with fury, as she muttered curses and hexes, flinging them one after another at Delora, never giving her a moment to recover.

But the scene that I could not look away from was playing out behind my mother. Varg's garbled screams filled the air as he sat at my Father's feet, legs entirely bound to the floor by metal chains. He was shirtless once more, the same curse forcing his hand again, and every wound I had healed was slowly being re-opened as he cut himself again and again.

I did not know how to beat her. Her shield was still strong and unwavering. I did not know what spell to use or how I could save the people in this room. The spell I had given them already had failed utterly, as evidenced by the state they were in. But I clung to what I knew was right, those things that I knew were true without hesitation.

I was the rightful Tenebraum Bearer.

Parfait needed to live.

Delora deserved so much better than what she had been given.

My father, for all his flaws, was a kind and just ruler.

Most importantly, I loved my Wolf, and he was MINE. Nothing and no one would ever take him from me.

My fingers crackled with magic as I took confident, firm steps towards Mother. Her eyes snapped to mine and I felt her madness surge, threatening to pull me under into the same. I stumbled, only once, before I pushed it away and kept moving. I reached Delora, who had been so focused on defense that she yelped as my skin touched hers, and I shoved her behind me. She didn't protest and she fell back, retreating to Waltz to help strengthen the shield guarding Parfait. I was the strongest witch here aside from Mother, and she knew it. Varg's cries had stopped, and I knew he was likely biting his tongue so hard it bled to hold the pain in, because he may care for no one else, but he knew that pain in his voice would hurt me. Everyone's eyes watched my movements, wondering what my next move would be, and frankly, I was wondering that myself.

'No matter,' I told myself. 'Don't think. DO.'

Mother glared at me with hate in her eyes. For the first time, my eyes truly reflected that hate. I hated her, to the bottom of my soul, and that was not the madness and it was not the connection to her emotions. That hate was entirely mine.

"Lucette," Mother spit, venom lacing her words. "If you've come to beg forgiveness, I have to say, it's far too late for that." Lightning sparked at her feet and she shifted, her eyes never leaving mine.

"No, Mother, it is not apologies I bring you," I answered quietly. "I love my mother, but you are not her. You may have never been. But just in case you ever were who I thought loved me, raised me, if you ever were that woman... because of that love, I will bring you peace."

She screeched in anger. "You will bring me NOTHING! You stupid little girl, so weak-willed and easily turned. You do not deserve the power of the tene-"

I waited and listened carefully, biding my time until the exact moment she would run out of air and need to inhale to continue. And at that second, several things happened at once. I took a deep breath and held it. Domes slammed down from the ceiling, just like those mother had used to teach me the beginnings of magic. One came down to enclose Waltz, Delora, and Parfait, while another covered Varg and my father. I couldn't risk one for myself, couldn't give her the opportunity to see what I was planning. Her focus had been heavily on me, and I don't think she even sensed the domes before in the next second, I did the opposite of the very first thing she taught me, pulling all the air from the room and raising a shield of my own.

Shock crossed her face as the reality of the situation dawned on her and when she tried to inhale, nothing happened. I could feel it when the panic set in. She tried to draw her own dome of air, but there was none to be had. The doors were sealed and even magic can not make something out of nothing. Poking holes in my domes proved a futile endeavor. We were connected and my shields maintained the same strength as her own. As oxygen deprivation finally set in, her focus wavered and her shield dropped. I used my exhale to bind her in chains laced with magic, keeping her physically and magically incapable of movement. In the next moment, I ended all of the enchantments noth she and I had cast and fell to my knees, exhausted. With the last of my magical strength, I focused all my energy, utilizing that edge the tenebraum gave me, and this time, Varg's curse ended as I willed it to. He rushed to me, stumbling as he stood before crashing down in front of me and pulling me to his bloodied chest.

"Lucy," he murmured, holding me tightly. I felt a surge of anger and despair and looked past him at what was left of my mother. I stared at her, and while I saw the monster she had become, I also saw the woman who held me as a child and silent tears rolled down my face. The betrayal she was feeling at my hands almost knocked me flat. I heard Delora murmur an incantation behind me and my mother's face finally slackened, her emotions releasing me as she fell into a dreamless slumber. A sob broke from my lips as I buried my face in Varg's neck.

He held me as the moments ticked by and it was only once my cries had quieted that he pulled back and cradled my face in his. "Lucy," he said softly. "You know what we must do."

I cut off another sob as I nodded, closing my eyes. I started to stumble to my feet, not knowing how I'd find the strength to take the life of my own mother but knowing it was my burden to bear.

"No, Lucy," said Varg firmly, pulling me back down before I got my feet under me. "You're not doing this."

I sighed heavily, pushing at his arms, the beginning of annoyance helping to chase away the tears. "Varg, this is bad enough as it is. Don't make it more difficult."

"No," He said firmly. "You will not have this memory haunting you for the rest of your life. Princess, I won't allow it."

"This is not up to you," I told him scathingly. "You don't get to decide this!"

His eyes darkened and he growled from deep in his throat. "Yes. I. Do."

I opened my mouth to protest but he caught me by the neck, squeezing gently, his eyes determined and glinting in warning. "Lucette, you listen to me. You are going to stand up, let Waltz open a portal, and go back to the Marchen, like a good girl. And I will take care of this, because that is my place, and you will allow me to do so because that is your place."

My eyes flashed and my lips parted, poisonous words on my tongue, but he tightened his grip, causing me to cut off in a gasp.

"Varg..." said Waltz in warning, taking half a step forward. We both ignored him.

"And if, Little Red, you do NOT follow these instructions," he warned with a sinister smirk. "I will squeeze your perfect little throat until your vision fills with black, tie you to the bed at the Marchen myself, and then come back to take care of this, just as I said."

"So Lucy," he continued, his face fierce and determined. "Are you doing as you are told, or should I start truly squeezing?"


	12. No Huntsmen for Two Lovers

_Varg_

I never claimed to be a good man. There was never any question of what I am. I am an animal and Lucy is mine and there is nothing in this world I wouldn't do to protect her. I guess the average man would have handled that differently. But she picked me, and since it saved her from the pain and memory of killing her own mother, I didn't feel the least bit guilty.

I expected to be hit or cursed when I returned to the Marchen. Fuck, I had half expected to be attacked there in the throne room, and it was a wonder she actually listened to me. So it was with heavy footsteps and a grimace that I climbed the stairs to our room. I pushed open the door to find Lucy dry-eyed and still, sitting on the bed.

I cleared my throat. "Well, Princess-"

She lifted her hand and red-rimmed eyes met mine. I swallowed hard at the blankness in her gaze, the way she looked far away even while she sat just in front of me.

"It's fine," Lucy said flatly. She resumed staring at the wall in silence.

Gritting my teeth, I crossed the room in 2 long strides and settled in front of her on the bed. "Oh Love," I chuckled darkly. "You can't hide from me, little girl. I could find you anywhere, even if you run away to dreamland in that pretty little head of yours."

She ignored me, but I knew I'd get to her eventually, so I pressed on. Running the back of my hand across her cheek lightly, I watched her eyes flash momentarily before she managed to blank the emotion.

Smirking, I quickly knotted her hair in my fist and pulled lightly. "The Ice Princess, trying to punish me by 'freezing me out'? How appropriate."

The murder in her eyes let me know I was getting somewhere and my smile widened. "Come on, Little Red," I taunted. "Come out and play with me."

Her nostrils flared and she pushed hard against my chest. Of course, she couldn't push hard enough to do anything, but I appreciated the effort, and I told her so.

"I could light you on fire from across the room," she told me darkly. "I am the Tenebraum bearer, and you are only a Wolf."

"Mmmmm," I hummed thoughtfully. "MAYBE once you learn how to control your magic without your mother's consciousness. MAYBE if you weren't out of magic at the moment. MAYBE if you and I both didn't know that no matter what you did, eventually you'd have to sleep and then you would pay for it. But for now, princess, you are at MY mercy."

With a growl, her right arm swung out to slap me and I chuckled as I caught her wrist. A sound of rage bubbled in her as she swung her left palm to the same effect. She grit her teeth and fought against my hold, so I pushed her onto her back, pressing her wrists to either side of her head and forcing her body to the mattress with mine. She snarled up at me; enraged, feral, and irresistible. This wildness, this ferocity, it called to the beast inside and I shook lightly as I struggled not to give into my instincts and rut her into the bed.

My eyes must have given away some of my thoughts because Lucy's widened and I felt the fight drain slightly out of her. I could literally see the moment her pupils began to dilate and I growled, forcing her to take a sharp intake of breath. Her skirt was rucked up high on her thighs, leaving bare legs beneath me where she had removed her stockings before I got home. Her cheeks were flushed with anger and rapidly increasing arousal, chest heaving as she seemed unable to take a deep enough breath. I smirked down at her, and she began to struggle all over again until I growled louder and lifted her wrists to slam them back to the bed.

"Get off of me," she demanded.

"No," I responded simply.

"I'm so angry at you right now, I can't stand it," she spat.

I shrugged. "Don't particularly care, Little Red."

"Stop this!" she said through grit teeth as she struggled beneath me. I ignored her and lowered my mouth towards hers and she growled again. "No!"

I paused, waiting for her roving eyes to meet mine. It was fucking HARD to stop, but it was important. Finally, she focused on me and I held her gaze, wanting to make absolutely sure I was clear about what I was going to say.

"Do you remember our word, Lucy?" I asked, voice hoarse and naked want betraying it.

"Yes," she answered, sounding equally wrecked.

"What is it?" I demanded, just to be sure.

"Letta," she confirmed.

"And you understand I will stop for NOTHING but that word?"

"I do," she whispered, long lashes batting up at me.

"Good," I snarled simply, before bringing my mouth to hers. I moaned and laughed when she bit me, my lower lip bleeding down onto hers. "Tsk, tsk. That's not being a good girl, Little Red."

Her face scrunched up in annoyance before it warped into a smug grin. "I am NOT a girl. I am the crown princess of Angielle and the most powerful witch in this land."

"Oh, I know, Princess," I told her, clasping both wrists in one hand above her head so I could use the other to push her face to the side. "But no matter what else you are, You. Are. Mine."

I pressed my lips over her pulse point and sucked, listening to the moan she attempted to stifle. Gods, she smelled so fucking good. She already had some bites, some marks, even some bruises from our little bit of fun before. The wolf in me growled that she needed more.

"Now," I said while licking at the place her blood pounded beneath her skin. "Submit." I felt her stiffen beneath me and smiled.

"No."

"Oh Love," I sighed, nipping her shoulder sharply and making her yelp. "So stubborn."

I wrenched her head further to the side and heard her sharp intake of breath as my canines scraped against her artery.

"When I bit you earlier, do you have any idea how good you tasted?" I moaned into her neck, nipping her shoulder again and grinding my hips down into her. Unconsciously, her hips lifted to meet mine and I swallowed down my chuckle. "So fucking good, Lucy. You have no idea."

I moved back to her pulse point, letting my teeth run over it again and gripping it between them, squeezing lightly and causing her to gasp and freeze. "I bet this would taste better. Can you imagine? Now, I would never want to hurt you but, you know, animal instincts and all..." I chuckled darkly. "Come on, Little Red. I remember you shaking and crying in my arms earlier, I can still taste your tears as you shuddered in pleasure and pain. Tell me you'll be a good girl, and we can do more."

I could sense her giving, bit by bit, and I was dying for her to finally let go. I needed to take her, claim her fully. She needed it, too, especially today, especially feeling alone in the world once more. I ground my teeth back and forth lightly on her vein and I heard a sob of pleasure and knew it was done.

"I'll be good," she whimpered.

"Good girl!" I growled, wrenching my teeth from her neck harshly so they scraped and she cried out. I nipped across her collarbone and down to the top of her dress before pulling a knife from my boot. I watched her eyes widen but I only shushed her and sliced the fabric of her gown, shift, and small clothes up the middle in one, hard tug. Lucy opened her mouth to protest, but when I glowered at her, she snapped her mouth shut again.

I ripped her shift sideways, exposing those beautiful breasts I had marked not so very long ago and I growled deep in my chest in approval. I took one rose-tinted tip into my mouth at the same time that I plunged into her damp curls, finding her nub quickly and pinching it between my fingers tight enough that I knew it bordered on pain. And my beautiful little masochist, she moaned, wanton and wet beneath me, and she was simply the finest creature ever created. I gently removed my hand from her clit and moved it to stroke her lower belly. I knew, somewhere in the back of my head, that I should slow down. That I should make love to her, not take her. Savor her, not fuck her. But as I bit that tender little nub and watched her eyes grow misty at the pain, I knew that I would never be able to give that to her and even if I could, she wouldn't want it. THIS is what she wanted. She wanted me, feral and rough and intent on devouring her and I was going to give it to her.

I scraped her nipple between my teeth, pulling it outwards with me before finally releasing it. She cried out and I soothed her, licking the abused nub softly and sweetly before turning to the other.

"Tell me what you want, Little girl. I'll give you whatever you like," I said gruffly, sucking her nipple gently and ignoring it's now throbbing counterpart. "Do you want me to suck and lick sweetly, Love, or shall we make this one hard and pulsing as well?"

Lucy looked down at me with tear-streaked cheeks and glazed eyes. Her pupils were blown and she was panting. "Please... like the other one."

I moaned and ground myself against her again. "Fucking perfect," I mumbled before biting down and worrying the hardened tip with my teeth. She nearly sobbed, so despite her continuing to beg for more, I brought my hand back between her legs to provide a counterpoint for the delicious push and pull of her breast in my teeth. When I felt her legs begin to shake, I moved my hands to her hips and came back up to kiss her, hard and possessively.

"Now, my little pain lover," I teased, reveling in her blushing cheeks and small smile. "I'm going to be nice for a bit, because when I take you, it will hurt and not in the way we like. So when you feel it, cum as many times as you like, but I won't be stopping until you're good and ready for me." I nipped her bottom lip lightly while she watched me lick down her body in confusion. But when my mouth found it's way to her sex, she let out a high pitched whine that the Crown Princess would not have been caught dead verbalizing if she had any say in the matter.

I slid 2 fingers inside her, feeling her body stiffen and relax once more before I began to scissor them. I sucked her clit into my mouth, reveling in the taste of her as she got wetter and wetter with each wave of euphoria. She came 3 times and begged me to stop before I was satisfied that she was, indeed, ready.

I slid off my breeches and tunic, pulling her hot, boneless body beneath me and willed her to meet my eyes. When she did, I spoke very slowly and clearly.

"Last chance, Lucy," I warned. "Are you completely damn sure you're ready?"

In response, she smiled widely and kissed me with such ferocity, she's damn lucky my instincts didn't take over and simply thrust into her like a brute. As it was, the patience it took to inch in slowly and pause for her to adjust was torturous, impossible, and completely worth it.

"Fuck, Little Girl, you are so- Fuck..." I slid out and back in, reveling in the wet slide of her pussy, the way she sighed and moaned against my neck, and just how fucking perfect she felt all wrapped up around me. Slowly, I worked myself in and out of her, waiting, until finally, she begged.

"Please Varg! More... I need more!"

I fisted her hair and pulled her neck back once more as I picked up my pace and slipped to previously untouched places. She screamed as she arched her back, trying to pull me deeper. Her fingers dug into my back and sides, leaving long red welts that had the animal in me rejoicing. I had so many things I wanted to do, so many ways to take her and make her scream. But this was her first time and I knew she'd be sore, so instead, I brought my hand to that little nub nestled above where our bodies joined and rubbed it between my fingers.

She inhaled sharply and I smiled down at her. "That's it, Love. Come on now, I know you're sore, but can you cum for me again?"

Lucy looked at me with wide, unfocused eyes and shook her head no. I half laughed, half growled in return.

"Oh yes you can, and you will," I threatened, adjusting my angle and rubbing at her faster. I forced 2 more orgasms from her ragdoll body, reveling in the feel of her milking me and her screams as overstimulation warred with ecstasy, before falling into that abyss of pleasure to join her and spilling hot and hard inside her. My teeth found their way to her neck, biting hard enough to just barely break the skin.

I only had one thought after, as we lay in bed with our limbs tangled together.

'Mine.'


	13. ***Epilogue***

_Lucette_

And so it was that Angielle fell into a time of unprecedented peace. Once Mother had fallen, under Waltz and Delora's tutorship, I was able to lift the fairytale curses within a few months. I was also able to wake up my Father, which was an enormous blessing because Angielle needed its king. The many residents at the Marchen never left, even after the curse was lifted, and the establishment became a simple inn rather than the sanctuary it had once been required to be. Delora and Parfait stayed on as the proprietors there, and while Parfait never fully recovered from the strain of her duties over the previous 2 decades, together they were able to more than make do.

Rumpel, on recalling his memories, decided to seek higher education outside the kingdom and learn medicine from other places to broaden his knowledge. He often wrote to me, care of the Marchen, but the person he wrote the most to was Annice. Apparently whilst I had been otherwise occupied, the shy, kind barmaid had somehow stolen the heart of the rogueish physician. Even in his travels, he thought of her often and she blushed every time she received a letter.

Karma returned home a better man and set about proving himself worthy to rule a kingdom. It took a lot of time and patience, but slowly his family grew to trust in his changed behavior. When his father passed, Karma became a beloved king and married a princess from a faraway land named, appropriately, Rose. While the marriage was political, it is said that the royal couple grew to love one another deeply and their story became the stuff of myth.

Waltz, having been returned to full power, became the court enchanter to the crown. Superior to Mythros in every way, not the least of which in his unfailing kindness, Waltz was able to win over the people to adore him through a combination of perseverance and his signature puppet shows. Waltz worked diligently to remove the stigma that magic still carried and over time, his efforts bore fruit, especially in the younger generations who had not suffered as their parents had.

Father, Ophelia, Emelaigne, and Rod returned to the castle. I made amends with my step-family and oddly enough, Rod and I became very close friends. We remained in correspondence for the rest of our years. While I grew to love my step-mother and step-sister, I never fully forgot the pain of my father abandoning me to the hands of a woman who he knew was wicked. I wanted to simply leave it in the past, but it was not something I was ready to do. Over time, I forgave him, but I never forgot the darkness of my childhood.

I realized over time that I dreaded everything to do with the castle. I felt like an outsider in my childhood home, somehow even more than I had before, and before long I made a drastic decision. I renounced my claim to the crown. Varg was someone who would always be displeased to live in polite society, and after everything, I found that I simply didn't want to.

So without much of anything to do, we did EVERYTHING.

For a time, we settled in the woodlands and I studied plants and their medicinal properties. I stopped wearing dresses and started wearing breeches and much looser corsets, plaiting my hair down my back to keep it out of the way. We traveled together and climbed the highest peak in all of Angielle simply to see the heart-stopping view. Varg taught me swordplay and together we learned archery. We raced horses and slept under the stars. In the next few years that followed Hildyr's defeat, I laughed thrice as much as I had in 18 years previous.

Together with Varg, I left behind Lucette, Crown Princess of Angielle, Ice Princess, Daughter of Hildyr. Instead, I became Lucy, and Lucy was not troubled with the trappings of royalty nor anything else not to her liking. The constant in our many years together remained each other. Varg was mine and I was his. Over time, we learned that to us that was the only thing that mattered.

We fought, we loved, we lived, and one day, we died. And, as in all good fairytales, we lived Happily Ever After.

***End***


End file.
